


Soft Shorts

by mielipieli



Series: Soft Wars Fanfiction - Fanfiction of Fanfiction [4]
Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Soft Wars
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:54:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24910396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mielipieli/pseuds/mielipieli
Summary: Interactions in the Soft Wars Universe that were too short to get their own work.
Series: Soft Wars Fanfiction - Fanfiction of Fanfiction [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1765462
Comments: 35
Kudos: 152
Collections: Open Source Soft Wars





	1. What happened before "In The Beginning"

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Project0506](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/gifts).



The door is at his back, so Rex doesn’t know who entered the room until they’re right beside him. Even then Rex doesn’t acknowledge their presence. He watches them out of the corner of his eyes, keeping just enough attention on his target that he doesn’t miss. 

Their clothing marks them as a CC. Same growth phase as the  _ Shebse.  _ If it’s someone he knows, then it’s Doom. But Rex doesn’t actually know a ton of CCs and all he has to go off of are the CC’s build and the general shape of haircut - which is difficult to judge without turning his head.

The CC kneels down next to him and Rex finally  _ does _ turn away from the targets, suppressing the urge to punch the CC in the face when he’s so kindly placed it at a position Rex can hit comfortably. Cody would be  _ disappointed. _ Wolffe would be amused.

“You’re the  _ Shebse’s _ CT, right?” It  _ is _ Doom, then.

Rex snarls and ignores the upward twitch of Doom’s lips (This always happens when he’s annoyed. The CCs are  _ way _ too amused by his irritation. Maybe he should start biting them. Might get them to take him seriously.): “I have a  _ name _ .”

“Whatever you say, little CT Rex.” Doom says distractedly. He’s looking somewhere over Rex’s shoulder and his face is pulled into a worried frown. “I don’t like the way Priest is watching you. Let’s go.”

Rex crosses his arms. He  _ knows _ that Priest is watching him. And he doesn’t like it, either. There’s something in his posture that has Rex’s hair standing on end. It doesn’t help that the  _ Shebse _ don’t like him, that they push Rex between them when passing Priest in a hallway. 

But Rex can deal with a bad trainer.  _ Most _ of his trainers haven’t been particularly nice. Most CT trainers, anyway. The CCs all have their Alphas. They’re just not used to normal trainers. And he’s  _ supposed _ to be here. Scheduled training and all that.

Doom sighs: “If I leave you here with Priest, the  _ Shebse _ will skin me alive”, he says like he’s trying to appeal to Rex’s sympathy.

“Sucks for you, I guess”, Rex says. “And I don’t need your help.”

“ _ Vod’ika _ , with Priest you need all the help you can get.” 

Doom sounds so concerned and serious that Rex’s resolve almost crumbles. But he can handle himself. He doesn’t need anyone to help him. He  _ can’t _ need anyone. Because the  _ Shebse _ might try to protect him but at the end of the day, Rex returns to his otherwise empty dorm. There’s no one to help him  _ then _ .

“I’ll give you a choice: I can either toss you over my shoulder and carry you back to  _ Shebs’ _ dorm.  _ Or _ you can walk there on your own two feet and keep at least  _ some _ of your dignity intact.”

“You know, you really shouldn’t warn me about that.”

Doom shakes his head in exasperation: “What are you going to do, squirt? Bite me?”


	2. Shebs Design

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Shebse are trying to train Rex in hand to hand. One problem: He's tiny.

“You can do it, Rex!”, Ponds yells. Then, more quietly: “He can’t do it.”

Yeah, Bly knows that. He is  _ also _ watching Rex try to escape from Wolffe’s hold. It is absolutely karking hilarious. Especially knowing that Rex is doing  _ everything _ right and Wolffe is currently not employing anything even  _ close _ to the correct technique. But Rex is tiny and Wolffe is most decidedly not so the outcome was predetermined from the start. 

“ _ Rex _ ”, Cody says in that one very specific voice that he only uses when someone’s being stubborn. 

It works very well on Rex, moderately well on Ponds and not at all on Wolffe. Bly is very proud of the fact that Cody has never even  _ attempted  _ to use it on him. Although the reason for that is probably just that Bly is the only one in their squad who doesn’t regularly forget that his brain exists. And, yes, Cody is very much included in that statement.

Rex taps out. 

Wolffe tenses a bit, squeezing Rex one last time, and Rex’s face gets that annoyed expression. The one that means the chance of someone getting bitten in the next minute has just doubled. Wolffe gets up quickly and moves out of the range of Rex’s mouth, which might mean that his brain  _ does  _ work. Or that the dying spasms of his last living brain cell accidentally produced something that could be construed as ‘a sensible action’.

Rex gets up, brushes imaginary dirt off his pants and crosses his arms. 

There’s a soft coo from Ponds, quiet enough that only Bly can hear it. Bly elbows him lightly. 

“I’m doing it right!”, Rex complains. “I  _ know _ that I’m doing it right. But it’s not working.” 

“You’re lacking the necessary strength”, Bly says before he can complete his analysis on whether that’s actually a good thing to say. 

Rex huffs again and if possible shifts his shoulders further forward than they’d already been.

“What Bly is  _ trying _ to say”, Cody begins and looks at Bly with that ‘come on,  _ vod _ ’ glare that always manages to cause a deep rooted disappointment in all of your personal failures, “is that you’re a growth phase behind us. You’re going to have to apply different techniques, maybe even fight a bit dirty at times.”

If he’d thought for even a moment that he might have misunderstood Cody, that possibility was immediately discounted by the way all of his batchers were staring at Cody. 

“Did Cody just really tell Rex - ”, Ponds whispers without looking away from Cody. “ _ Rex _ who bit Doom two days ago because he was annoyed - that he should start fighting dirty?”

“I’m pretty sure he did”, Bly whispers back.

He watches in amusement as Cody looks at them with pursed lips, clearly getting more and more annoyed by the second with the way they’re looking at him and talking quietly. 

“Five, four”, Ponds starts counting down, “three, two...”

“Oh, come on!”, Cody crosses his arms. “It’s not like he’s going to overwhelm any of us through sheer force with those tiny arms.”

“Hey!”, Rex shouts in indignation. 

Bly very desperately tries not to laugh at that. He’s sure it must show but he’s at least going to give Rex the dignity of not having to  _ hear _ the laughter. 

Wolffe and Ponds don’t seem to have any such predilection. Their laughter echoes loud and clear in the training room.


End file.
